VIDEO

MARKETING
A STRATEGIC GUIDE

Borderline Media Services

www.borderlinemediaservices.com
Table of contents

Why is having a video strategy so critical? 02

What is your overall business strategy? 03

What is your positioning statement? 04

Key questions for your video strategy 05

Ideation 05

Performance measurement 07

The power of using a strategic partner 07

©2018, Borderline Media Services Pg.1

Why is having a video strategy so critical?
Video has been central to marketing communication for years now, and projections
suggest that it’s here to stay. To get a sense of the significance video plays in a
successful marketing strategy, consider that:

4X as many customers will choose to watch

a video about your product than read about it

Companies using video marketing see 49%

faster growth than their competition

92% of consumers share video content

with their network

500 million people watch video content

every day

By 2021, 82% of consumer internet traffic

will be video content

Clearly, video and video marketing are vital to your marketing success,
but it isn’t the whole story. As with any other approach to outreach, though,
having an appropriate strategy is key to achieving the successful, long term
gains you need. Michael Porter’s famous 1996 HBR article, What is Strategy
discusses the difference between Operational Excellence and Strategy. Porter saw
then that without a strategy that develops a company’s unique identity,
any advantages over their competition would be temporary at best.

Even the funniest, most creative videos will fail to make a lasting
impact without a unique message and consistent targeted strategy.

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1: What is your overall business strategy?

1
Developing a functional marketing strategy isn’t rocket science. It should evolve
naturally from the overall business strategies your firm employs every day.
Each strategy should support the other, ensuring that every part of your business is
working toward the same goals. When looking to your existing strategies to develop
an outreach plan, stop to consider you business’s:

Objective:
What is your business’ quantitative target? Think of it in SMART terms:
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.
Scope:
What are the main and supportive activities? What region do you operate
in? What kind of customer are you targeting, and what services
do you offer them?
Approach to Creating Value:
What is the core value you offer? Is it convenience? Is it a personalized
service? Are you the most affordable option in the market?

By answering these questions, you’ll be able to develop

a specific strategic statement that will provide a backbone
whenever you need to develop a more specific strategy.
A well-developed strategic statement may look like:

Grow to 15,000 advisers by 2019 by offering convenient face-to-face

health advice to middle-ages individuals who delegate their health
decisions through a national network of advisers.

A comprehensive business strategy

has three core components:
1 The objective your company desires to achieve
2 The scope in which your company operates
3 How your company creates value for customers

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2
2: What is your positioning statement?
If an overall business strategy provides a basis for understanding what goals you’d
like to reach, a positioning statement is your vision for attracting customers. A
well-developed positioning statement communicates what makes your business
unique from your competition; showcasing what makes your company attractive to
customers, and why your business is the best choice for their needs. In developing
your statement, you should stop to consider your:

Target customer:
Who, as specifically as possible, are you targeting? Instead of a “middle
aged man,” think “wealthy business owner,” or “suburban commuter.”
Value propositions:
How do you frame your unique offering? For example, if you want to
deliver affordable air travel are you going to deliver that via a low cost
carrier model vis a vis Spirit Airlines, or be a flight-sharing platform?
Supportive strategies and tactics:
Is your work done in-house, or do you collaborate with third-party
strategic partners? Are you leveraging a specific technology?
Brand personality and brand voice:
If well written, your brand positioning statement will also imply the
personality of the brand. This means if we assume your brand is a real
person and is sharing their vision, what is his/her personality? Is it
innovative? Reliable? Young? This question will be the basis for the voice
and tone of your brand.

Consider this example of a brand positioning statement for a luxury hotel chain:

The mobile application FLuber provides young leisure travelers with an affordable flight through
a flight sharing platform that charges passengers with a portion of a flight’s operational
expenses. To fulfill this promise, we’ll leverage strategic partnership with small airports.

The business reflected in this paragraph could be easily seen with a caring,
detailed-oriented and diplomatic personality. That audience interpretation
is your brand image.

While there are many things to consider when developing your marketing strategy,
none are as vital as your brand positioning statement, which will become the voice
reflected in all of your video content

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3: Answer the key questions
for your video strategy
By now, you’ve found the goals you want your business to meet, and the personality
you’d like to present to your customers. With them in mind, it’s time to develop
your video strategy. Consider:

Who is your target customer:

Who are you trying to reach? What are their demographic
and psychographic characteristics?
By identifying what is important to these exact individuals,
you will be able to craft a message that highlights
the value or benefit we offer them.
What is your customer’s persona:
Once we specify who we want to target, describing
the unique details of their persona will help you craft a
message tone that will resonate with them. For example;
our wealthy middle-aged man’s persona may include
details like his home on the east coast, luxury European
car, 2-3 educated children, and hobbies like golf or skiing.
What is the video strategy purpose and what
key performance indicators (KPI) measure it best:
Is it brand awareness? is it engagement? Is it sales-driven?
We may have different content based on which stage of
the sales funnel the customer/prospect is at. Furthermore,
it is critical to determine the appropriate key performance
indicator for each of these purposes and their targets.
A KPI is a measurable value that demonstrates how
effectively a company is achieving key business objectives.
For instance, click through rate and cost per acquisition
are some typical measures.
What is your tone?
Based on your brand personality, target customers
and customer personas, you can determine what will be
the most appropriate tone and style for communication.
Is it official? Sophisticated? Friendly? Every business has
a unique answer.

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 WHO

PERSON SEGMENT

4: Ideation
WHAT

VALUE,
BENEFIT
HOW

TONE &
STYLE
WHERE

FUNNEL
STAGE

3
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll have the core of your video strategy!
Take a look at this recap to see what you’ve accomplished:

CHANNEL
ORGANIC VS. PAID

Surprised? We’re not done quite yet.

Now you’re ready to create your content. Refer to this table, and consider
the boxes you’ve already filled in. It’s now up to you to determine:
WHY

KPI

1) the format of the videos you want to produce, be it live action, animation or some
hybrid of the two and 2) the message you want to convey through them.

WHO WHAT HOW WHERE WHY FORMAT MESSAGE

FUNNEL
PERSON SEGMENT VALUE TONE CHANNEL KPI
STAGE

Whenever you develop content, it’s vital

to decide its format and message.
Consider, still, how these choices fit into
your existing overall business strategy.

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 5
5: Implementation

These are practical considerations for creating your content. Keep in mind your:

Production method:
Will you produce your content in-house, or outsource it? Think about this carefully.
It can be tempting to produce content in-house to keep costs down, but there may
be some downsides. For example, if you’re considering a company brand video on
your homepage or 30 second spot for broadcast, odds are you’re going to want it
professionally produced. But if you’re producing a daily video blog, your webcam
should work fine. Just make sure that the production level aligns with
audience expectations.
Frequency, duration and reach:
How frequently should your video content be released? What is the desired reach,
or number of unique people in the target audience that you want to see the video?
If you want to generate 500 unique views (reach) of a video and you know that your
average view through rate is 5%, and that you typically generate 2,500 impressions
per post, then you would require 4 posts (frequency) totaling 10,000 impressions to
achieve your goal.
Duration
How long should your video be? Studies show that shorter is still better when it
comes to videos on social media. We generally recommend keeping your videos
under two minutes in length.
Budget:
Run through a step by step cost breakdown to determine the budget your videos
will require. Everything from basic production steps to promotion, distribution,
effects, and any other expenses your video will require should be considered.
It’s also worth looking into how your production and release frequency will
compound these costs.

The quality of
your final video is a
strategic decision.

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6: Performance measurement

Measuring your performance is an opportunity

to determine what’s working and refine
future content for better results.
The power of
using a strategic partner
6
Releasing your content doesn’t mean you’re done with development.
When measuring your predetermined KPIs against their target, it becomes easy to
tell how effective your content is at achieving your objectives. This is an opportunity
for you to revise future content, making increasingly effective videos as time goes
on. Don’t get discouraged if the results aren’t what you wanted; measurement and
refinement is an ongoing process, and there’s always room for improvement.

Video strategy development is an on-going process.

As video content becomes the backbone of content marketing, you’ll have to find a way to
compete with the constant noise of everyone else. If you’re going to make an impact, it’s
time to focus your attention on developing a unique video strategy and producing content
which reflects that. If you are missing any of these six steps on how to produce content which
embodies your video strategy, you must fill the gaps.

That said, you need someone who knows how to go beyond a one-off video and pitching a
product. Someone who could turn your advertising into a medium that shares your vision
and inspires your audience to engage because they believe in your brand, not just your
products and services.

That’s where Borderline is different.

We aren’t just media advertising experts. We’re a team of professional, award winning
storytellers. Our time in entertainment has taught us how to inspire people through the
power of video, combining the best forms of writing, production, and effects to build your
audience and brand through following an inspiring and effective strategy. You have a unique
story to share, and Borderline can help you develop a strategy that leads to conversion and
brand loyalty. From video production to web design, we have all the tools you need to grow
your company, your brand, and your followers.

Start sharing your story today with Borderline.

Learn more at borderlinemediaservices.com

©2018, Borderline Media Services